Her Majesty the Queen has become the latest public figure to become embroiled in the expenses row, after a leak to the Daily Telegraph revealed that Elizabeth II has been passing on the cost of a diamond encrusted crown which she claimed was somehow essential for her to do her job as monarch. Other bizarre items on the Queen’s expenses claims included something called a ‘sceptre’, valued at hundreds of millions of pounds, several ‘orbs’ and a number of ceremonial swords, none of which the Queen paid for out of her own money.